Oracle, Microsoft To Announce Cloud Alliance Built On Oracle's Database

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Oracle is set to announce an alliance with longtime rival Microsoft under which Microsoft will use the Oracle Database 12c as part of its cloud offerings.

The two companies have scheduled a press call for Monday afternoon to divulge details of the alliance that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison hinted at last week during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call.

Industry observers say the unlikely Oracle-Microsoft partnership may be the result of Microsoft running into scalability limitations with its own SQL Server database running on Windows -- scalability issues that have come to light as customers move more processing workloads to the cloud.

Oracle is also expected to announce similar partnerships with cloud software vendors Salesforce.com and NetSuite sometime this week.

"We will be announcing technology partnerships with the most important, the largest and most important SaaS companies and infrastructure companies in the cloud," Ellison said on the earnings call. "And they will be using our technology, committing to our technology for years to come. That's how important we are doing 12c. We think 12c will be the foundation of a modern cloud where you get multitenant applications with a high degree of security and a high degree of efficiency, you at least have to sacrifice one for the other.

"Again, I would call them a startling series of announcements with companies like Saleforce.com, NetSuite, Microsoft. All that happens next week, we will be giving you the details. These partnerships in the cloud I think will reshape the cloud and reshape the perception of Oracle Technology in the cloud. [Oracle Database] 12c, in other words, is the most important technology we've ever developed for this new generation of cloud security."

Oracle debuted Oracle Database 12c at Oracle OpenWorld in October. Oracle has not specified a date for its general availability other than to say it will ship sometime this year.